


Among the Stars

by HoneyCoconut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Garrison School Dance, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pre-Kerberos Mission, School Dances, kinda shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 15:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20066572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyCoconut/pseuds/HoneyCoconut
Summary: “I want to go” and “I don’t have a date” are the two short sentences that brought Shiro into this situation.With a short glance at his clock, Shiro confirms to himself that he is, indeed, fashionably early.(Inspired by that twitter thread about Shiro taking Keith to the Garrison school ball.)





	Among the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't beta read, and English isn't my first language, but I couldn't resist writing a short one-shot for this https://twitter.com/pejaposarambi/status/1156435467052756992

“I want to go” and “I don’t have a date” are the two short sentences that brought Shiro into this situation.

With a short glance at his clock, Shiro confirms to himself that he is, indeed, fashionably early. He and Keith agreed on eight o’clock, so being five minutes early is only polite. And it does not matter, not to Shiro, that it wouldn’t matter is Shiro was late, the way he knows Keith; but something in him wants to give Keith the proper school ball experience.

The stars know that he deserves it.

Shiro smoothes his uniform down one last time. It’s his nicest uniform, and he’d gotten it pressed for this occasion. He checks his hair, and then knocks at Keith’s dorm door.

It’s not Keith who opens but one of the boys who shares the dorm with Keith, his bored expression switching to surprised when he sees Shiro.

“Hi,” Shiro says, giving the boy – cadet Griffin, Shiro’s sure of it – a polite smile. “Is Keith there?”

Griffin nods, stunned as he turns back and calls Keith’s name, though Shiro thinks he heard someone scrambling to get off the bed and to the door as soon as he spoke. He has a hunch he might know who it is.

There are glares exchanged as Keith takes Griffin’s place at the door, but then Keith turns to Shiro, and Keith may still be half-hidden by the door, but the thing that captures Shiro’s attention immediately is how Keith’s eyes shine, filled to the brim with rapidly fading uncertainty and then simple, blinding joy.

“You-you actually came,” Keith says, relief hung on every word, paired with a tentative smile and flushed cheeks.

Shiro’s momentarily stunned.

Keith looks beautiful. He’s wearing his ugly, worn, Garrison-issued cadet uniform, but he’s wearing it well. His hair’s slicked back on one side, exposing part of Keith’s forehead that Shiro’s never seen before, and Shiro’s convinced that Keith’s skin doesn’t usually glow this much.

Then Keith’s saying his name, ripping him out of his observation.

“Of course I came,” he replies, flashing Keith one of his winning smiles, “What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t escort you to the annual Garrison ball?”

Keith smiles a bit wider, and steps out from where he’s been hiding behind the door. He quickly glances back into the dorm, and then he’s stepping out, into Shiro’s space, who hasn’t moved away quickly enough to avoid this happening. Instead of awkwardly flailing around and potentially flustering them both, Shiro holds out his arm for Keith.

“Ready?” he asks, inviting, challenging.

“Of course I am,” Keith replies, a spark of competition burning in his eyes, but his grin is soft, trusting. He loops his arm through Shiro’s and, after a moment of contemplation, moves his second hand to Shiro’s arm too, holding onto him.

Shiro wishes more people than just him and sometimes Matt or Adam were on the receiving end of those grins, even if something deep down wants to hoard all those grins to himself.

But that nature is deep enough that Shiro would have to dig six feet to find it from where he’s buried it after he noticed it the first time.

The first few moments of their walk through the corridors is silent, Keith lost in his thoughts, excitedly glancing between Shiro and where music steadily gets louder.  
Shiro grins down at Keith, “I hope you manage to keep up with me.”

Keith scoffs good-naturedly.

“I am a _terrific _dancer,” Shiro boasts, and when Keith starts laughing, he can’t help but laugh too. It’s comfortable, and Shiro’s looking forward to this even if he hadn’t planned on going.

“Is that how you overcompensate the fact that you can’t cook?”

Shiro fakes a gasp. “Hey!” he protests, but can’t go on, not when Keith’s laughing, carefree and at ease.

They reach the hall where the Garrison usually holds press conferences; it’s been decorated, dark blue, star-spangled garlands hung everywhere, the same ones as every year. There’s easily enough room to fit two gyms in here, if not more, and with how many people are in here, that much space is sorely needed. There’s a band in one corner, and tables with drinks set up along one of the walls.

“It’s so…full,” Keith says, and Shiro can hear how he’s wrinkling his nose at the sight.

“Yeah,” Shiro agrees, walking inside slowly. “But once the dancing starts, it should be more manageable.”

Keith’s just short of clinging to his arm as they walk through the crowd towards the middle, where the first dance will start in a few minutes. Every now and again, they pass a group which will eye the two of them strangely, and once, Shiro’s heard a scoff, but they silently ignore it.

They want to enjoy this.

Many of the girls are wearing dresses, or makeup, and some of the boys have changed into pants and white shirts, but there are a fair few handfuls of cadets in uniforms too.

Before long, the band starts playing. Shiro turns to face Keith, who lets go of his arm as he does so.

Shiro smirks and bows, holding out his hand for Keith to take.

“May I ask for this dance?” he asks, drinking up Keith’s amused snort.

“You may,” Keith replies, carefully placing his hand in Shiro’s. Shiro stands straight again, slowly placing his hand on Keith’s waist, wordlessly asking for permission.

Keith snorts again and places his hand on Shiro’s shoulder unceremoniously.

_You’re silly_, Keith’s actions say.

_Please_, Keith’s eyes scream.

They move as one, and as they dance through the moving couples, Shiro discovers that Keith’s agility and speed extend to dancing.

At one point, Shiro sweeps Keith into a wide, graceful half-circle, that ends up not being as graceful when he has to pull Keith back hurriedly before he swings into a pair of girls that only keep their eyes on each other and not the other couples too. Keith huffs in annoyance, but Shiro knows he and the two girls are forgiven when Shiro tries again successfully.

Slowly but steadily, the other dancing couples decide they don’t want to risk dancing too close to them, which leaves them with a fair circle of empty floor around them; Shiro uses that space gladly, dipping and twirling Keith around, who smiles each time.

“Good footwork, cadet,” Shiro compliments Keith, and in return, he gets an amused look and soft crinkles at the corners of Keith’s eyes.

“You’re not so bad yourself, old man.”

Keith’s grin is all sharp, white teeth and barely-hidden challenge as Shiro gapes at him.

“Brat.”

Shiro knows Keith will forever deny the squeak he lets out when Shiro dips him, low, without warning. His eyes are wide and almost shocked as he stares up at Shiro for the few seconds until Shiro pulls him up and straight into a twirl.

Keith, of course, manages to handle it all with admirable grace, limbs a fluid line as he follows Shiro’s lead, his hair nearly high enough to graze Shiro’s jawline as he lets himself be twirled. By the time Shiro pulls him into the starting position again, he’s slightly flushed, his eyes bright and sparking. 

“I should’ve expected that,” he breathes out, barely audible over the music and crowd.

Shiro hums in agreement, his blood screeching as it courses through his veins faster than usual. He’s drunk off his good mood and Keith’s company, of dancing with someone so skilled.

And Keith truly is a delight to dance with.

Shiro hopes that one day, they might be able to dance not in a room full of sweaty teens, but under the stars.

He hopes that one day, they’ll dance among the stars.


End file.
